Proactiv

Right now I am extremely annoyed at Proactiv. Now, it has been about 5 years since I have used their products. I stopped using them because they didn't work for me, and they were expensive. Honestly, I have found that washing my face with Dove unscented soap works so much better than any acne product. And it's a lot cheaper.

So why am I annoyed with them? Because for some reason my Proactiv account was reactivated after 5 years of inactivity. And they sent me products I didn't order, and of course charged me for them. And it was set up to keep sending me products every three months. Well, the credit card they charged it on is linked to an old checking account that I still have, but seldom use. A week ago, I was checking my bank accounts, and I felt prompted to check that old account (which I rarely check). I opened up the account summary and saw that I had been charged $50 by Proactiv that very day. It was still pending activity, so I quickly called Proactiv to try and fix it. But unfortunately, Proactiv had already shipped the products and could not refund my money until I returned their products. I asked why my account had been reactivated, and they had no idea. I asked them to close my account so that this would never happen again, which they agreed to do.

Well, I finally got my Proactiv in the mail today, so I took it back to the post office and had to pay $8 to ship it back to Proactiv. So it will probably be another couple weeks before I actually get refunded my $50, and I am also out $8 for returning a product I never ordered.

Proactiv wants your money, and they have set up a "convenient" automatic delivery system to make sure they can continue to take your money. I logged into my account before I called Proactiv, and I found that I could not stop the automatic delivery. The only way to get out of the system was to call customer service and close my account. And when I called to close my account, the lady asked me if I was interested in buying a new product. Why do you think I'm closing my account??? Seriously people.

And the other thing that really bugs me...how in the world did they get my current address??? The Proactiv was delivered to my apartment door. We have lived here for less than a year, and I have had no contact with Proactiv for 5 years...

So while I am frustrated with Proactiv, I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who is looking out for me and gave me a prompting to check my bank account that specific day.

Daughters in My Kingdom

The LDS church recently gave a copy of this book to every woman in the church, for free. "Daughters in My Kingdom" is a book about the history and heritage of Relief Society.

Relief Society is the largest women's organization in the world. Every woman in the church over 18 years old is automatically a member of this great society. There are no membership fees. Each woman is a part of a great worldwide sisterhood.

This book opened my eyes to the great work Relief Society has been doing since it was founded in 1842. Relief Society is so much more than a meeting we attend during our 3-hour church services. The organization of Relief Society was an important part of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. Prophet Joseph Smith said that "The Church was never perfectly organized until the women were thus organized." The Relief Society and the Priesthood work hand in hand to build up the kingdom of God on earth.

After reading this book, I have never been more grateful to be a part of Relief Society. The heritage of Relief Society is rich, and I am excited to do my part to carry the work of Relief Society forward!

If you don't have a copy, you can read it online here.

The Fruits of Our Labors

Remember when we planted our first garden back in March?

What was supposed to be 70 days has ended up being closer to 250 days, but our pepper plant finally has peppers!!!

We're guessing we have 3 yellow bell peppers and 1 green bell pepper.

Also, our gardenia and marigolds have flowered again:

And our tomato plant finally has blossoms!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, there are only a couple blossoms and we don't yet know if they will make it all the way to tomatoes, but we were excited to see blossoms! We had pretty much given up on our pepper and tomato plants ever producing fruit, but we still took care of the plants. PE has been faithful and diligent in watering them and trimming down the tomato plant so it doesn't take over our second bedroom.

We had good/fast success with our green beans, so it was easy to get discouraged with the pepper and tomato plants. But even though it seemed like the pepper and tomato plants would never bear fruit, we still kept them and watered them in the hopes that they might bear fruit.

Everything grows at its own pace and not always within the timetable we had in mind, but with patience and hope we will see the fruits of our labors.

Changes

Just as the seasons are changing, so are our lives! A week and a half ago, my little sister got her mission call!!! We are thrilled to have a missionary in the family! A lot of family and friends predicted she would serve state-side, but none of us guessed it would be in Alaska!!! The Anchorage, Alaska mission covers all of Alaska and part of Canada. She reports to the MTC on January 11, 2012. We are super excited for her! However, it feels really weird to have my little sister going out on a mission...When did we all grow up???

Another good change in our lives is that PE got a new job! I am super proud of him!!! This is his third week at his new job. PE is a Civil Engineer for the company MWH Global. They deal with a lot of water/wastewater projects around the world. The office he works at is in South Jordan, but they will be relocating their office by the end of the year. We were not too excited about the commute from Bountiful, but it really hasn't been as bad as we thought. It looks like we will at least be living in Bountiful until February, but after that we don't know. It seems to be a good job that will allow PE to get the experience he needs to take the P.E. exam and get his professional engineering license.

On my end of things, I am submitting a 200 page thesis to my professors tomorrow. They get 4 weeks to look over it and suggest revisions, and then I get to DEFEND!!! It's been a long process, but I am really happy with how my project has turned out! I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!!!

"Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice"

How blessed we are to be able to listen to a living Prophet today! General Conference was full of wonderful and uplifting messages. We live in a troubled world, but we need not fear for God is with us. The messages shared in Conference were truly inspired words from our Father in Heaven who knows us personally. I know that some of the messages were meant just for me. I am so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ; it continues to bring great peace and happiness into our lives. I love our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson; and I know that he speaks the word of God.

"A Family Affair"

A few years ago I was going through my Grandma's recipe book. She passed away when I was little and I have few memories of her. Her recipe book contained more than recipes, it contained some of her thoughts. This was my favorite, and I was reminded of it today:

"In the 'good' old days, mealtime was a bond that held a family together. I will admit that life was simpler then. For one thing, the mother was usually in the home. For another thing there was no TV. Think about it. When all members of the family knew they were expected to be present -on time- for 2 or 3 meals a day, there was confidence in the stability of the family. There was security in the good meal the mother had prepared. Ideally it was a time to share the day's experiences and help each other with problems. It took a lot of love and concern from everyone to make it fun, educational, valuable.

I wish everyone would try hard to make at least one meal a day a Family Affair."

Thanks for the wonderful advice Grandma!

The Joy of Change

May was a crazy month! Finishing up our last college classes, apartment shopping, celebrating our 3rd Anniversary, packing, moving, unpacking, job searching, interviews, etc. So here are some highlights:

Although we've lived in Logan for 3 years, this is the first year we actually got to celebrate our anniversary in Logan. We ate a delicious dinner at one of our favorite places in Logan, the Indian Oven. We highly recommend their chicken coconut kurma!



We really love Logan, and were sad to have to move. Especially after doing some apartment shopping in Bountiful, we really didn't want to leave our nice yet inexpensive apartment in Aggie Village. But we finally found a reasonable place to live.

We really dislike moving...





We ran into a few difficulties in our new place. First we noticed we were missing one of these:



(The rod, not the curtain)

And then we discovered we were missing one of these:



(the rod, not the toilet paper)

And of course, the apartment complex forgot to get our gas turned on and since we moved on Friday, we couldn't reach Questar until Monday, and then they didn't come until Tuesday to turn our gas on. Having no hot water stinks, but fortunately our parents live close by so we were able to shower and wash laundry.

It also took us a while to get our dishwasher to work. It wasn't doing a very good job at cleaning our dishes, so we discovered that if we add Lemi-Shine with our detergent it works much better. It also works better when there are not 2 baby spoons jammed in the bottom sprayer. I wonder if the previous tenants knew where their baby spoons ended up...

Our new place: